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Thank goodness The Legend of Legacy is on a portable system, because once you start you’ll find time anywhere to play: you’ll get in a few more rounds of grinding on the bus, or a few steps closer to your self-imposed goal while waiting in line in a government office. The classic JRPG elements combined with the characters, the story, the graphics, and the music make this a game not to miss out on.

The bottom line is that The Legend of Legacy is a sneaky title that not many people have paid attention to. While most people balk at the Nintendo 3DS lineup for this holiday season and only see games such as Triforce Heroes, they’re forgetting that titles like this exist. This title is a demanding RPG that rewards a dedicated player with a brutal but doable combat system. The visuals may not win over the most hardcore gamers, but the team at FuRyu definitely made up for this by mixing complex game play with a musical mood that matches it.

The Legend of Legacy may not have the intricate story line, deep characters, or the standard turn-based combat that one might expect from an RPG, but it has its own unique style with gameplay that rewards players for making smart tactical decisions. The game’s flaws may prevent it from being perfect, but The Legend of Legacy is still an excellent RPG that fans of the genre will love.

I do appreciate a difficult game, really I do. I adored every minute of ETRIAN ODYSSEY 2 UNTOLD. I live for boss battles in MEGA MAN that make me hold my head in my hands afterward. But I don’t think I’ve played something quite so unforgiving and ass-kickingly hard as THE LEGEND OF LEGACY, at least in recent memory. There’s so much about it to like—the wonderful visuals, easy-to-understand battle system, sensible leveling system and just enough personality to make a call to arms charming. If it didn’t make me also consider punching either myself or my system, this could be one of my favorite games. But for now, I think I’ll pop back in something like CHIBI-ROBO: ZIP LASH! to keep the mood light and not so punishing.

At the end of the day, Legend of Legacy provides a satisfying experience, with plenty to explore, and lots of challenging combat to experience. The story is a bit underwhelming, especially considering the choice of a main character makes little difference to the progression of things. Overall though, it matches up with the style of gameplay quite well. The graphics and music evoke classic RPGs while maintaining a style of their of own, giving the game a familiar yet fresh feel. It may not bear the SaGa name, but it carries on the best aspects of the series. Akitoshi Kawazu would be proud.

The Legend of Legacy plays like a love letter to JRPGs, and just how much you enjoy it will hinge on what it is you love about the genre. If you're after world-spanning scale, intricate stories and complex character interaction, you'll likely end up disappointed — all of these elements are either backgrounded or absent from Avalon entirely. But if you love RPGs for the sense of exploration, engaging battle mechanics, and overall atmosphere, you're in for a real treat; The Legend of Legacy plays to these strengths and delivers a lovingly crafted adventure with a gorgeous graphical style and an outstanding soundtrack, easily earning its place in the 3DS' pantheon of portable RPG gems.

I absolutely loved Legend of Legacy, but I completely recognize it won't be everyone's cup of tea. The Draconian save system, random leveling and no story pretty much disqualify the game from being a blockbuster hit. That's just fine in my book; the folks who seek this one out and let it cast its spell will be addicted by hour two or three. That's what happened to me. I did nothing but play this game on two cross-country flights last week, and, even now, I really can't seem to put it down.

A gorgeous art style, accompanied by a magical soundtrack with Final Fantasy X vibes, and interesting battle mechanics make this a JRPG worth playing for fans of the genre. Had the story been more prevalent and the structure less repetitive, The Legend of Legacy might have been one of the better old school JRPGs in the last few years.

I’m torn on The Legend of Legacy. Even in the absence of story, I occasionally lost myself in the vibrant world listening to the amazing music, slowly powering up my preferred trio while I explored new maps. Too often, though, I was brutally struck down by a surprise boss encounter or a demonic random battle. The Legend of Legacy is an enjoyable RPG with a variety of unique concepts, but without a story to back it up, it frustrates just as much as it delights.

With roots in a series known for its esoteric game mechanics, The Legend of Legacy may have difficulty finding mainstream success. It encourages risky experimentation and demands a firm resolve to uncover its secrets. For some players, the payoff is rarely going to be worth the effort; a few lines of dialogue are unlikely to sate the kind of player who seeks a narrative reward for conquering TLoL's steep challenges. I would consider myself a fan, but I recognize that my opinion is not going to resonate with the majority in this instance.

While the overall presentation and SaGa-inspired skill systems bring a little bit of flair - and there's an appropriate level of challenge throughout - battles alone aren’t quite compelling enough to make up for The Legend of Legacy’s repetitive structure or minimalistic narrative.

This is indeed a SaGa game in everything but name, as its trappings are both traditional and experimental, but while sometimes this mash-up of design philosophies pays off, it falls flat at other times. The most ardent JRPG fans will find much to like; though casuals be warned: this is a grindy timesink. Even the rock-solid combat mechanics can’t offset how much grinding is present. In fact, it’s hard to recommend to an audience other than hardcore Japanese roleplaying game aficionados because of how many great RPGs have just come out or are getting ready to.

I feel so torn with The Legend of Legacy. I really liked the combat mechanics and the way it handled exploration, but with the difficulty spikes with the boss fights and slightly clunky leveling mechanic, it made it a chore to actually grind for fights. That, on top of poor communication when it can to navigation and where to actually go next left me wandering around until my next boss fight. For the hardcore JRPG fans, There’s some good to be had here but only if you’re willing to wade though some pretty rough mechanics and difficulty.

The Legend of Legacy chops and screws stuffy JRPG foundations in ways both sensible and exciting. With its refreshingly different mechanical tweaks to the JRPG formula and wonderfully open exploration, anyone with a vested interest in how such games can warp and mutate beyond their bounds would get something out of checking it out. But the flaws these out-of-the-box ideas introduce make The Legend of Legacy a difficult game to recommend to people just looking for a great RPG experience. The Legend of Legacy is tantalizingly close to being a good game, but its anachronistic design is too much of an underdeveloped double-edged sword.

Legend of Legacy is a game that sent me on a rollercoaster of emotions. I like the non-linear approach, how the formation system impacts combat, the beautiful art style, and the general level of difficulty. However, a lack of story or mythology, weird levelling, and the lacklustre hub town cannot be ignored. Ultimately, this is a decent JRPG that attempts to change up the standard formula to mixed results.

The Legend of Legacy boasts a lengthy campaign set amidst one of the most hostile but beautiful worlds you'll ever see realized on the 3DS hardware. That experience requires you to first come to terms with challenging and sometimes tedious combat, though, plus you'll have to endure a lot of grinding in order to turn your team into the group of warriors that can survive to the end. They say beauty is only skin deep, and in this case, there's definitely a lot of roughness under the surface.

The Legend of Legacy has nice character designs, beautiful backgrounds, good music, and some inventive mechanics. Unfortunately, the actual gameplay is repetitive and extremely shallow, the combat system is a slog with little character progression, and simple tasks like saving the game and walking from place to place are needlessly tedious. Without a good story or developed world to keep it interesting and no real way to improve your skills, there’s no reason to fight through to the end.

The Legend of Legacy’s sub-par battle system really diminishes what is otherwise a decent experience. The lack of clarity in character progression harms it as well. The exploration of the world is somewhat fun, but that can’t make up for a flawed battle system when fighting is required to progress through the game.

If this appraisal sounds overly critical, it's because it comes from a place of love. The Legend of Legacy comes so close to being a compelling role-playing game, but it just doesn't do enough to earn the amount of patience it requires of players, let alone reward it. This may be a story about a treasure hunt, but it certainly is no treasure.